Allowances

Allowances are used on pay lines when processing a pay run, in addition to the required Pay Rates and Deductions. We have provided the most commonly required Allowances as System Defaults (Templates) that can be used "as is" or copied and modified to suit your requirements.

With Single Touch Payroll Phase 2, there have been significant changes to the reporting of Allowances. In STP Phase 1, some Allowances were reported as part of Gross, and others were reported separately. All Allowances are now reported separately using the following codes in STP Phase 2: Please refer to the ATO for detailed guidance for separately reported Allowance Types.

CAR (Car expense) is now reported as CD (Cents per Kilometre).
TRANSPORT (Award Transport) is now reported as AD (Award Transport Payments).
LAUNDRY (Laundry Allowance) is now reported as LD (Laundry Allowance).
MEALS (Overtime Meal Allowance) is now reported as MD (Overtime Meal Allowance).
TRAVEL (Travel Allowance) is now reported as RD (Travel Allowance).
OTHER (Other Allowance) is now reported as OD (Other Allowances).
NEW - TD (Tool Allowance), KN (Task Allowances) and QN (Qualification Allowances).

Allowances are separated into a separate category for ease of use and contain allowances that are

Reportable - Allowances that must be reported to the ATO.
Non-Reportable - Allowances that are not STP Reported, typically due to being less than the relevant ATO measure.
Back Payments - Used when a Payee is underpaid to ensure the correct PAYGW Calculation is applied.

Allowance File

The Allowance File contains three sections:

Allowance Details allows the entry of the Description, $ or %, etc.
Taxation contains the specific STP reporting rules.
Superannuation: determines the superannuation rules.

Allowance Details

Active allows you to deactivate any User Modified Pay Rates that are no longer required.

🎯 Active cannot be deselected if the

Pay Rate is assigned in Pay Template within the Payee Master File.
Allowance is assigned in All Purpose Allowance or Pay Template within the Payee Master File.
Deduction is assigned in Pay Template or Variable Deduction Banking and Repayments within the Payee Master File.

The Description can be changed when creating or editing User Modified Allowances, allowing you to define the description shown in the Payee's Pay Advice Slip.

$ (or % of Rate Per Hour) allows you to define whether this payment is a set rate ($) or a percentage (%) of the Payee's Rate Per Hour for all User Modified Allowances. If $ (or % of Rate Per Hour) is set to

Per Hour, Per Pay Period, Per Lump Sum, Per Piece or Per KM, and
- % is selected, the rate is:
  - Obtained from All Purpose Allowance, OR
  - obtained from Advanced Pay Template, OR
  - calculated by multiplying the Rate Per Hour defined within the Payee Master File by the value entered, or
- $ is selected, the rate is:
  - Obtained from All Purpose Allowance, OR
  - obtained from Advanced Pay Template, OR
  - The Pay Rate when it is added in Compose (STEP 3 of Pay Day).
Per Day
- % is selected, the rate is:
  - Obtained from All Purpose Allowance, OR
  - obtained from Advanced Pay Template, OR
  - calculated by multiplying the Rate Per Hour defined within the Payee Master File by the Hours Per Day value.
- $ is selected, the rate is:
  - Obtained from All Purpose Allowance, OR
  - obtained from Advanced Pay Template, OR
  - The Pay Rate when it is added in Compose (STEP 3 of Pay Day).

Paid By allows you to define the Quantity for all User Modified Allowances. If Paid By is set to:

Per Hour
- The quantity is obtained from OTE Hours Per Week when the Allowance is loaded in All Purpose Allowance, Advanced Pay Template or Compose (STEP 3 of Pay Day).
Per Pay Period, Per Lump Sum, Per Day, Per Piece or Per KM
- The quantity defaults to 1 when the Pay Rate is added in All Purpose Allowance, Advanced Pay Template or Compose (STEP 3 of Pay Day).

Report To Group is disabled in both System Default and User Modified Allowances and defines the section to which the dollar amount associated will be included in Reports.

Hide Quantity on the Pay Advice Slip and Summary Reports determines whether the quantity/hours associated with this deduction should be shown or hidden from the Pay Advice Slip, Pay Advice Slip (Simple) and Pay Advice Summary Reports.

Hide Rate on the Pay Advice Slip determines whether the rate associated with this deduction should be shown or hidden from the Pay Advice Slip and Pay Advice Slip (Simple) Reports.

Available in All Purpose Allowance can be changed when creating or editing a User Modified Allowance. This field defines if this Allowance should be available for selection in All Purpose Allowance within the Payee Master File.

Taxation

Category defines the group of payments this type falls into.

Payee Tax Treatment Categories define which Payee Tax Treatments allow this Pay Type to be selected within Compose (STEP 3 of Pay Day) based on the ATO's STP Phase 2 requirements. The Payee Tax Treatment Categories presently available in e-PayDay Go are;

Include in W1 - Total salary, wages and other payments defines if the amount associated with this payment is included in W1 - Total salary, wages and other payments.

Include in Gross (STSL, MLS) (Redundant as of FYE 2026) was previously used to define if the amount associated with this payment is included in Gross for calculating Student and Training Support Loans (STSL) and Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS) repayments.

Ordinary Pay/Wages (Portable Long Service Leave) defines if the amount associated with this payment is included in the Portable Long Service Leave Report for each State/Territory.

Include in Wages Declaration (WorkCover) defines whether the amount associated with this payment is included in the Wages Declaration (WorkCover) Report. This setting can be changed within User Modified Deductions.

Include in Payroll Tax (SRO) defines whether the amount associated with this payment is included in either the Payroll Tax (SRO) or Payroll Tax (SRO) (Non Taxable Wages) Report. This setting can be changed within User Modified Deductions.

Tax Treatment is disabled in System Default and User Modified Allowances and defines the Taxation Schedule to which this payment applies.

Income Stream is disabled in System Default and User Modified Allowances and defines the ATO Income Stream for STP Phase 2 Reporting, which includes this payment.

Tuple Alais defines the Tuple where the deduction is reported within the STP Lodgement.

Type Code Fact Alias defines the fact where the deduction type code is reported within the STP Lodgement.

Allowance Type Code defines the Type Code the amount is included in within the STP Lodgement.

Other Allowance Description is disabled in System Default Allowance, enabled in User Modified Allowances and defines the description required when Allowance Type Code = OD.

Include in Gross (Salary Sacrifice) defines if the amount associated with this payment is deducted from Gross when a Salary Sacrifice exists.

Include in Gross (STSL) defines if the amount associated with this payment is included in Gross for calculating the Study and Training Support Loan (STSL) repayment amount.

Include in Gross (MLS) defines if the amount associated with this payment is included in Gross for calculating the Medicare Levy Surcharge (MLS).

Superannuation

The OTE (SGAA) checkbox determines if the amount associated with this Allowance is considered Ordinary Time Earnings per the SUPERANNUATION GUARANTEE (ADMINISTRATION) ACT 1992.

The OTE (Industrial Instrument) checkbox determines if the amount associated with this Allowance is considered Ordinary Time Earnings per the Industrial Instrument under which the Payee has been hired.

Information, Warning, Error and Success Messages

The messages below are displayed when specific actions are performed within e-PayDay Go®.

Unsaved Changes Warning Message

The Unsaved Changes Warning Message is displayed when attempting to exit the Allowance File without saving after the information stored has been changed or updated.

If Acknowledge is chosen, the Allowance File is closed without saving. If Cancel is chosen, the message is closed, and the Allowance File remains open.

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